CeBIT 2012 in review

DERMALOG as a security and biometrics partner for Brazil

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff visited the stand of German biometric identification system manufacturer DERMALOG and its Brazilian partner Montreal Informática during their opening-day tour of CeBIT 2012.

Hamburg, March 30, 2012 — The DERMALOG Identification Systems CeBIT stand received a high-profile visit from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Germany's largest biometrics manufacturer was presenting the results of its 14-year partnership with Brazil’s Montreal Informática, a vendor of biometrics solutions to a number of Brazilian states. New products designed to contribute to the security of upcoming major sporting events in Brazil — the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016 — were also on display.
 
DERMALOG’s automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) has been used in Brazil since 1998. Montreal Informática implemented the first AFIS in the country as part of an ID card project in the state of Rio de Janeiro designed to ensure the reliable identification of the state’s residents. To date, nine million citizens have been issued unique, secure biometric ID cards. The system also supports various government authorities in verifying the identity of the people with whom they are interacting.

At CeBIT, DERMALOG presented new border-control products such as e-gates and tablets for mobile registration and identification. Such innovations are of great significance for Brazil. They mean more security during the upcoming events, in which millions of sports enthusiasts will be visiting the country. Border checkpoints with automated e-gates speed up the clearance of incoming tourists and offer a much higher level of security than the current manual processing. Implementing AFIS technology in commercial and financial applications facilitates tourist visits while providing all the benefits of data security and privacy protection.

In nongovernmental applications, fingerprints can be used as an integrated solution in the banking sector, in supermarkets, for logical system logons and access control scenarios — thanks to the new middleware for DERMALOG AFIS. Users are identified solely by their fingerprints and no longer need to remember countless passwords, PIN codes, or other security tags. The AFIS running in the background is scalable — from small to large, from a few to many users.

Günther Mull, founder and Managing Director of DERMALOG: “We’re proud of the fact that we can integrate our AFIS into any software. After all, what’s the use of the best encryption technology if users store their passwords on their PCs or in their wallets, where others can access them? With our fingerprint technology, any company can protect its data with greater convenience, security and efficiency than with the usual annoying PINs and passwords.”

In addition to the new AFIS biometrics middleware, the manufacturer presented its complete line of fingerprint scanners, which comply fully with the requirements of European and US certification authorities such as the FBI and BSI. The company has supplied the lion’s share of the scanners used for biometric passports and ID cards in Europe: more than 50,000 units in 16 countries. DERMALOG’s competitive edge also extends to advanced and innovative techniques such as the detection of false fingerprints (live finger detection). The biometrics vendor is thus already addressing a need that will arise with the further spread of this technology by offering users the best possible protection against fraud.

Montreal Informática Executive Director Eduardo Coutinho: “We’re excited about the possibilities of implementing and integrating DERMALOG technology in the Brazilian market. In doing so, we will be leveraging the full systems integration expertise of a company that can look back on 17 years of experience. We’re delighted by the interest that President Dilma Rousseff expressed in our products at our CeBIT stand. In a press conference following her visit to the DERMALOG stand, German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted the strong partnership between Germany and Brazil exemplified by DERMALOG and Montreal Informática.